Boaters rescued, taken to Brac

Royal Cayman Islands Police said two boaters who were rescued Wednesday by local marine crews were safely taken to Cayman Brac just after midnight Thursday.

The fishing boat the two men were on was towed to the Brac by the Joint Marine Unit’s Guardian patrol craft.

RCIPS Inspector Daniel Lee said the two boaters – Jorge Diaz and Westley Dixon – were in good health and would spend the night in the Brac.

Mr. Dixon, the captain of the vessel, told the Caymanian Compass on Thursday morning that his craft got stranded during a fishing trip to Pickle Bank when the battery failed. He said he intended to get a new battery, if possible, and pilot the craft back to Grand Cayman – hopefully arriving around mid-day Friday.

“These things do happen,” Mr. Dixon, a veteran fisherman, said. “But this was my longest time being stuck out there. (Jorge) was starting to get panicked.”

It didn’t take police long to locate the two missing boaters following a search during the day Wednesday. It took a bit longer to get both men and their craft to Cayman Brac.

The two-man crew of ‘the Renegade’ had not been heard from in a week.The last time they had spoken to family members was 11 August, about a week before they were found.

At about 1.40 p.m. Wednesday, the RCIPS Air Support Unit spotted ‘the Renegade’ in the Pickle Bank area. On sighting the helicopter, a member of crew set off a distress flare.

‘The Renegade’ left Grand Cayman on 9 August to head to the Pickle Bank area.

Mr. Dixon’s sister, Betty Ho-Shing, said Westley often goes on fishing trips but that the family became concerned with the length of time he was out in this instance.

The Pickle Bank area is around 50 miles north west of Little Cayman. RCIPS officials said the missing boaters incident was just reported to police on Wednesday, 18 August.

See much more on this story in Friday’s editions of the Caymanian Compass…

1 COMMENT

Where was the safety equipment on this vessel. All vessels should carry Hand held radio spare sealed battery EPIRB, SART and have the relevent qualifications to use such equipment. Very Very lucky Men. Someone needs to inforce maritime law.